README: Replication files for "Proxy Advisory Firms and Corporate Shareholder Engagement"
This README provides instructions and resources to understand the results from "Proxy, Advisory Firms and Corporate Shareholder Engagement." 
The paper was authored by A. Dey, A. Starkweather, and J. White, and is forthcoming in the Review of Financial Studies (June 2024).

REPLICATION CODE
The primary code to replicate the results is "MasterCode_ISS_Engagement_RFS.do"
This code produces the tables and figures from the paper, executing other scripts located in the Code folder as sub-programs.

DATA DICTIONARY
To understand the variables used, refer to the data dictionary named "Data Dictionary_Final.xlsx".

DATA FILE FORMAT
Two pseudo datasets are provided to demonstrate data formatting:
-cda_final80_final_n20610_pseudo.dta
-cda_n426_final_pseudo.dta

DATA SOURCES AND PERMISSIONS
Certain data were obtained from third-party providers such as CRSP, Compustat, Thomson Reuters, ISS Voting Analytics, ISS Governance, WRDS SEC Analytics Suite, and I/B/E/S.
These datasets were accessed either through licenses or permissions. 
Our institutions have acquired access rights but do not possess ownership of the data. 
Sharing of these data requires explicit written consent from each respective third-party providers.
Other datasets are derived from publicly available sources, including:
-North Carolina Retirement System (Freedome of Information Act request)
-Brian Bushee's Institutional Investor Classification Data (https://accounting-faculty.wharton.upenn.edu/bushee/)
-US Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR (https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/)
-US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs)
-Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (https://www.bls.gov/cew/)

CONTACT
For additional queries, please contact the corresponding author of the paper: Josh White, Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management, josh.white@vanderbilt.edu.